Presently, doctors and dentist use many processes, such as ultrasonic cleaning, in their offices. For instance, a dental appliance such as an implant or bridge, for example that needs to be cleaned may be placed in liquid in a beaker. The beaker fits inside a common ultrasonic apparatus.
During the course of the day, many appliances may need to be ultrasonically processed. For the dentist to keep one appliance from bacteriologically contaminating another, either the beaker must be disinfected after each use, or separate beakers must be used.
This becomes a very expensive and time-consuming procedure. Man hours are lost sterilizing each beaker after each use, and many beakers must be purchased in order to run an efficient procedure where many implants may be processed in a single day. Besides taking too long, a sterilization procedure cannot be used on some dental appliances such as a bridge, for example, due to the plastic materials.
Additionally, because of the direct contact of the bacteriologically contaminated implant with the inside of each beaker, the possibility of transference of germs from one implant to another is extremely high. It is very difficult to fully sterilize every beaker after every use, and any beaker which does not get fully sterilized acts as a pathway for germs and bacteria to jump from one implant or workpiece to another.
It is believed that many medical and dental practitioners try to face these problems by wrapping the implant in plastic and tossing the wrapped implant into a beaker. However, this technique is unsterile, costly, and dangerous.
The plastic bags, which are not made for these purposes, are not bacteriologically impermeable, and begin to break down or melt at higher temperature. The seams and bag openings are not always sealed, and the bags are often open pathways for germs. The beaker is filled with the same fluid throughout the day, and only the wrapped implants are exchanged. This fluid becomes contaminated and acts as a conduit for infection.
Thus, this technique is also unacceptable and may lead to the formation of bad habits such as a failing to sterilize the appliance when such sterilization is essential.